Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[RareBreedFancier]

16 to 18 weeks old is good, you'll be getting eggs soon!

 

[penguin55]

Horray!! Found our first egg today and had it for breakfast .nice.I have taken the cover off the laying box .so hopefully they will lay their eggs in the box from now on.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Wow! Congrats! I guess I was right about you getting eggs soon!

 

[Fierlin1182]

Congrats, penguin.

 

[Mommapilko]

Hi fellow Aussies!!

can I jump into this thread and ask a couple of qu please? We're pretty new to this chicken thing, loving it so far and I'd really like to get advice from people who know our climate, especially Brisbane.

We gave our kids 8 chicks this last Christmas (tho sadly there's a few roosters that have to go back

) and we have one of those coops that looks like a garden shed with half colourbond/half wire mesh walls. So the sides are fairly open, fully roofed, walk in height, and 3 nest boxes at the back. What I'm wondering is if it's possible to use the deep litter method with an open shed like that, or should I be using sand?? As you know Brissy summers are humid and stormy, and our winters are bright and dry, sometimes windy, but not bitterly cold compared to a lot of places.

Also has anyone had any success using food grade DE to control flies/smell etc?

The chicks have been full time outside in the shed for just on a week now, they turned the overgrown grass to mush within the first couple of days, so I really need to decide on what kind of floor to give them. So what works?? If it helps - I could post some pics... Love to hear from you all

Btw, congrats on your first egg Penguin!! How many n what kinda chooks do you have?

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Mommapilko!

What kind of chicks did you get? Pics are always good!

I'm in Vic but I will say deep litter won't work if it gets a lot of rain on it. It also depends on the size of the coop. Where I used to live I had a 10 x 12 foot coop with one long wall mostly open. If it rained hard enough the front foot or two would get wet but the chooks would usually mix it up and keep everything dry or if it was too wet I'd remove that section. It was a small coop like the 3 foot deep one Bunnings is selling that wouldn't work at all.

Never tried DE, read about it though.

 

[Aussie Lady]

Welcome Mommapilko to BYC.

I am also from Brisbane and also quite new to this "chicken business". I'm just starting out and I have 1 pet Silkie. I will be picking up some Meal worms shortly to start my meal worm farm, chickens absolutely love this so I have been told and it's good for them as well. I have a small chicken coop however we are transforming a galvanised tin aviary to a chicken coop. Hubby is getting everything ready before we purchase our 4 Australorps (point of lay not chicks). I am using sugar cane mulch for my chicken coop, it's softer than straw and as you know, here in Brissy it's quite reasonably priced and it smells kind of sweet. My Silkie has no problem with it. Haven't had any problems with flies.

 

[satay]

Well i live on acerage out of esk and i only have a dirt floor. My house for them is huge though and we designed it so the back which if fully enclosed faces the west which is where most of our storms come from. I do clean it our regularly though.

 

[Mommapilko]

Thanks, Rare Breed! I'll def post some pics - of chickens and coop... We haven't had any really big storm for a while, so I'll have to maybe just start and if it goes soggy and doesn't work..start again.

Aussie Lady, I'll be really interested to know how your mealworm farm works out! Sounds like our coop may be similar to your renovated aviary. Hmmm - hadn't considered sugar cane.... Are you doing the DLM, or just tossing it out every week or so? We've got one pure australorp and 2 lorp layers, they're cuddly and super friendly!! When do you get yours?

Satay, how many chickens in your huge house?? Dirt floor might be easier, but we've had heaps of rain and we've plonked the coop right over all the overgrown grass! I think it'll take ages for the mush to dry out, it's pretty gross right now!!

How often do you need to clean your's out?

 

[guinea fowl galore]

I hope you all don't mind if I share some photos

Here are my newest additions.